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Rejected as well. According to their facebook page, everyone should receive word today one way or another so I would contact them.

Yes. Search for NDSEG in google and restrict time-range to past month. You can see award announcements from various disciplines. Here are two from Materials Science: http://www.mrl.ucsb.edu/news/ucsb-ndseg-nsf-graduate-research-fellowship-winners I don't think they are waiting to release awards for a certain discipline.

Careful following thoughtless "follow the money" replies. I had a chance to visit RI. It was amazing. It was also confirmed that nearly everyone obtains an ra position after one term. I would say the primary factor here should not be the terms worth of tuition, but rather the potential extra year as you say for phd completion. After having visited, I would definitely say its worth the risk. Spending two years at the epicenter of robotics research is an experience that should not be tossed aside to blindly follow the money. For personal reasons I chose not to attend, but it was one of the hardest decisions I have made.

I think it is a bug. I saw that I had "declined the award" but then logged out and tried logging in again and was unable to.

I'm in robotics and got the email. I have not started school yet.

Did anyone not get it?

Accidentally "down-voted" Tea Girl's comment above. Don't know how to undo!! Sorry about that.

Puertorrob, thanks for taking the time to answer. It's really helpful. Mnipenny, I don't know anything more than you about the admissions process or dates. Good luck!

Thanks for the information, Puertorrob. - When you say the route to PhD is not impossible, do you have any rough numbers in mind, e.g. for every 3 bright-eyed students that come in to the program expecting a PhD, only 1 make it in? Obviously, it will be rough, but I'm just trying to get a sense of scale. - As far as fellowship information goes, were you notified with your acceptance that you were nominated and provided travel reimbursement for visit day? Stanford is definitely my top choice, but reading threads like this: gives me pause! Edit: I feel bad linking the above conversation because it was so contentious. Reading it after gaining acceptance into Stanford engineering M.S. feels like discovering Santa's not real. Beware. As with all information from forums, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Ugh, I didn't realize there were top-ranked programs that make it the norm for students to go 80k into debt to fund a PhD (if they're lucky). It seems this would water-down their talent pool considerably to those that are willing to go into debt. This really makes me wish I would have applied to more fellowships! I was half-assuming that a masters acceptance without funding is 1/2 a rejection, but not so at Stanford apparently. As far as research interests and schools applied to, we're remarkably similar. My interests lie on the boundary between computer vision and control systems. We also applied to several of the same programs: Berkeley EECS (haven't heard anything, assuming reject), CMU Robotics Institute, MIT Aero/Astro, and Caltech CDS. I had a 3.9ish GPA, Math major, Decent State School, Several Undergrad Research Experience, and Several Years in industry in research oriented roles. I would be very surprised if you don't get in, given your profile. Keep me posted!

Along with several others, I received an admit email to Stanford Aero/Astro M.S. yesterday. I am hoping there are some GradCafe members with some "insider" knowledge of the program that can answer some questions I have. My goal is to do research and obtain a PhD. I made this clear in my SOP and by "checking the correct boxes" on the application form. After researching previous years' threads and reading my admit letter carefully, I believe there is a significant chance the offer will be unfunded. (The big indicator appears to be the presence of a reimbursement offer for the visit day trip.) I am not too worried about paying for a term of tuition in order to get my foot in the door (join a lab and gain a RAship after proving my worth). What I am not okay with is a program that is an "extension of undergrad"- take classes for two years, get a diploma, and leave. My sense is that, by default the M.S. program will tend towards the flavor of an MEng rather than an M.S->PhD program. Does anyone know if this is true? If it is, is there a reasonable opportunity for a proactive student with some significant experience to prove their worth and gain some funding after a term or two? Are there any statistics out there about funding opportunities? I know there is a Stanford Fellowship. Does anyone know how many they give out to an incoming class? From previous posts, it appears that you find out if you were nominated in that acceptance email. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the feedback! It definitely helps test anxiety to know I can fallback on my current scores. I think I will go with my new scores assuming Q is significantly higher and cumulative doesn't drop precipitously.

I am applying to top-ranked PhD programs in engineering. About a month ago, I took the GREs and my scores were somewhat of a fluke: quant was much lower than I was expecting and verbal was higher than I was expecting. (164 Q 90%/166 V 96%/5 AW 92%). Based on my performance on practice tests, I was expecting scores more along the lines of (167-170 Q/160-162 V/Not sure AW). This Sunday, I am planning on taking the GRE again. Does anyone have a feeling for the trade-off here for engineering programs? For example, would a (170Q/160V/4 AW) look better than (164 Q/166 V/5 AW)? I was assuming yes, but from what I've been reading, more weight is put on verbal GRE scores in engineering programs than I thought. I am asking in advance, because I would like to submit my scores at the testing center in order to meet application deadlines. Any thoughts here? Am I over thinking it?

Anyone interested? I am applying to PhD programs in robotics/computer vision. Thanks!

You're right! I have begun the process.